Humor, gender and social relationships. Humor as an interactional strategy

This paper explores the use of linguistic expressions of humor as an interactional tool in conversation, according to the gender of the participants and the social relationship held between them. While early studies argued that women lacked a sense of humor, it is now clear that both women and men use humor as a key strategy in interaction. Besides gender, from an interactional perspective, other social and contextual factors have been claimed to play an important role in the use of humor. In this paper we focus on the social relationship held between speakers as an element that determines their linguistic behavior and which can therefore affect their use of humor in interaction. From semi-structured conversations maintained by two pairs of women, two pairs of men, a couple and two mixed groups of men and women, we analyze the use of humorous expressions as an interactional strategy. Bearing in mind that the use of humor is highly constrained by individual variation, we see how both women and men use humorous expressions primarily as a way of strengthening their social relationships. Also the strength of the bonds holding between them allows them to use a more humorous or a more serious mode of communication.